The huts are gone. The green lawn beside the stream holds only an echo of their fallen carcasses. Their fires sleep forever in shadow. Voices whisper only in the wind.
Stones line the way, guiding reluctant feet towards the hidden valley and the stark, skeletal rowans of winter. The land wears an ancient garment of bronze and the wind howls…
I see you.
I called, and you have come.
The time is now.
I know you fear what you will find and the veils you will part. I see it in your eyes… in your footsteps… in the tilt of your head. Wind in hair the colour of faded bracken, beside you he who sees the world with the eyes of the heart, while you see with eyes aflame.
I know your name… though you do not.
Not yet.
Not yet, little sister.
Names matter…
They contain the power of bringing into being; the power of making.
Mine was never spoken, after my choosing. And after the flames only one remained to hold it safe; he could not speak it, his voice ever given to the gods except in service. We never spoke, never whiled away the winter darkness… our voices touched only to serve the seeing. Yet he saw me as clearly as I see you now, a mirror of destiny across the bridge of time… An empty vessel of the gods.
Yes, closer still… Come. It is all in the finding. Even though you do not understand what it is you seek here. Not yet. That will come. Yes.
Here they laid my bones, clean and white, marked with earth, laid under earth, not given to the flames. That was their gift to me… to those who went before. Those whose souls’ gift I carried. They laid me under earth and under stone, beside the cool waters in the quiet place.
He waited in silence until his ending, an ending of his willing. My name was on his lips at the last.
Listen.
You can hear it still, whispered on the wind…
From Doomsday: The Ætheling Thing ~ Stuart France & Sue Vincent
***
The photo for this week’s prompt was taken at Barbrook, a magical place, filled with stone circles, history and the ghosts of far memory…
It is a place we know well… we have spent a good deal of time with the stones, hut circles and burial cairns of Barbrook, listening for the whispers on the wind…
*
Thank you to everyone who took part, visited or reblogged the posts or left comments for their authors.
A new prompt will be published later today. As always, I will reblog as many contributions as space and time allows as they come in… and all of them will be featured in the round-up next Thursday.
All the posts are listed below, so please click on the links below to read them and leave a comment for the author!
Pingbacks do not always come through… if you have written a post for this challenge and it does not appear in the round-up, please leave a link to your post in the comments and I will add it to the list.
An invitation to writephoto writers…
As there are usually too many contributions to reblog all of them every week, and so that we can get to know their writers, I would like to invite all writephoto writers to come and introduce themselves on the blog as my guest! Click here for details.
Come and join in!
Thank you to all Contributors!
Please click the links to read and comment on the author’s site.
Hayley R. Hardman at The Story Files
Deborah at A Wise Woman’s Journey
Honoré Dupuis at Of Glass and Paper
Roberta Eaton at Roberta Writes
Nascent Ederren at The Ederren
Christine Bolton at Poetry for Healing
Anita from Anita Dawes and Jaye Marie
Balroop Singh at Emotional Shadows
Michele Jones at Out of the Shadows
Trent P. McDonald at Trent’s World
Christine Bialczak at Stine Writing
Ritu Bhathal at But I Smile Anyway
Jules at Jules Pens Some Gems…
Brian F Kirkham at The Inkwell
Keith Hillman at Keith’s Ramblings
Goff James at Art, Photography and Poetry
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
It is a magical place, Sue. One I would love to visit and sit for a while…
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There is a bench there, carved with a poem…
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Reblogged this on Art, Photography and Poetry.
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Thanks for sharing, Goff.
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Pleasure.
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This was a very powerful prompt, and got different but all amazing contributioins. Thank you Sue, all to all the others too. Michael
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It seems to have sparked some great stories and poems.
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Indeed, Sue! Thank you, and best greetings to Ani and Mr. Toad too. 🙂
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😀
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I like that little quote from your book about the place.
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Thanks, Trent. The place fair bristles with memories…
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❤
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❤
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Oooh. That was lovely writing, Sue. Quite mesmerizing. I’m glad you’re sharing passages from your books.
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I was surprised to find how many people didn’t even know we wrote books 😉
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You need to share snippets more often. ❤
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Apparently so 😉
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I have watched many a show about areas like this. While I have traveled some – I haven’t been lucky enough visit this locale or any with magic stones. There is a history without speech that only writers can imagine. Thanks for bringing this area to life.
While I cannot visit every contributor, I visit some. Thank you for providing a round up that allows us to come back when we have more time.
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It is an area rich in magic and mystery… with so many stories as yet untold…
I do enjoy being able to share the posts written for the prompt, but seldom have space for them all. The round up allows me to mention everyone.
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More magical writing, Sue. “…he who sees the world with the eyes of the heart…” Thank you, as ever. Hugs x
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Thank you, Joy xx
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thanks Sue. Sounds a marvellous place.
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It is.
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Thank you Sue for inspiring us each week 💜
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I do enjoy hosting the prompts ❤
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